Archive for the ‘Volvo Car Corporation’ tag

This Saturday, April 14, marks the 85th anniversary of the completion of the first series-produced Volvo automobile, the ÖV4. Designed by Volvo founding partner Gustaf Larson, Henry Westerberg and Jan G. Smith and styled by artist Helmer MasOlle, this open four-seater would compete in the medium-price class, and was new from the ground-up.

The ÖV4′s name was an acronym for Öppen Vagn (open car), 4-cylinders. Its 1,944cc side-valve engine made 28hp, while the transmission was a three-speed and the brakes were mechanical and acted on the rear wheels. Of the ten prototype cars Volvo built, nine were open touring cars, and one was a closed sedan, the PV4 (Person Vagn, or passenger car, 4-cylinders). All used the “iron” or “Mars” symbol on their radiator shell to signify the famous Swedish iron and steel that this Swedish car was made from; the diagonal slash that bisected the radiator to fix the symbol in place was simply the easiest way to hold it there, but it became the automaker’s signature marking.

The ÖV4 that rolled out of the Lundby factory in Gothenburg in the spring of 1927 was returned to its birthplace this week, in a nod to its 85-year heritage. The Volvo of today is very different from that fledgling company, as it’s now two companies: The Swedish-owned Volvo Group is among the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, and the Chinese-owned Volvo Car Corporation, still based in Gothenburg, sells close to a half-million cars a year.

At 10 a.m. on April 14, 1927, Volvo sales manager Hilmer Johansson drove the first series-produced ÖV4 through the Lundby factory gates, and that car has returned in a symbolic gesture to celebrate Volvo’s birthday, this time with Volvo Car Corporation president and CEO Stefan Jacoby at the wheel, and Volvo Group president and CEO Olof Persson riding shotgun.

Volvo Car Corporation released the following statement:

The Volvo Group and Volvo Car Corporation are two companies with a long shared history. However, what was at that time one company began as a very unpromising project, because Volvo’s founders Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson had no direct experience of cars or the automotive industry. During its first year of production, Volvo sold a very modest 300 cars. However, in the following year business really began to take off, when the company also started manufacturing trucks and buses. Even back then Volvo realised that the key to success lay in exports. “Our roots are still very important to us. Around 30,000 of the Volvo Group’s 120,000 employees work in Sweden, but 95 percent of our products are sold outside the country,” says Olof Persson. The equivalent figures for Volvo Car Corporation are 14,500 employees in Sweden out of a worldwide total of 21,500. Around 87 percent of all Volvo Car Corporation’s sales take place outside Sweden.

In 1999, the Volvo Group sold its car business. Since then, the two companies have continued to grow in different directions. Volvo Car Corporation is now in the premium segment and last year sold around 450,000 cars in 120 countries, with the USA as its single largest market. The Volvo Group produces trucks under the Volvo, Renault Trucks, Mack and UD Trucks brands, together with buses, construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications and components for aircraft engines. With a turnover of SEK 310 billion, the Volvo Group is the world’s second largest manufacturer of heavy trucks and Sweden’s largest company. The group has production sites in 20 countries and sales organisations in 190.

As a result of Volvo’s birthday Volvo Museum in Gothenburg will keep an open house at 11.00-16.00, April 14. If the weather is fine, a parade to the city center with both new and vintage vehicles will be organized.